Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

The strongest heroes in Champions Online often need a hand, and that's why there are Supergroups. We here at Ten Ton Hammer understand the importance of player communities in online games, and that's why we've chosen to showcase a different Supergroup every couple of weeks. This week we delve into what makes The Kinship tick.

The strongest heroes in Champions Online often need a hand, and that's why there are Supergroups. We here at Ten Ton Hammer understand the importance of player communities in online games, and that's why we've chosen to showcase a different Supergroup every couple of weeks. This week we delve into what makes The WildCards tick.

The strongest heroes in Champions Online often need a hand, and that's why there are Supergroups. We here at Ten Ton Hammer understand the importance of player communities in online games, and that's why we've chosen to showcase a different Supergroup every couple of weeks. This week we delve into what makes The League of Titans tick.

The last few days leading up to a major MMOG launch is an exciting time for the developers and fans alike, and Champions Online is no exception. Ten Ton Hammer recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Roper to discuss the end of the open beta, the importance of player feedback and what kind of content updates players can look forward to once the game officially launches on September 1st, including a sneak peak at the Blood Moon event coming this October.

Ten Ton Hammer: There’s been some really solid feedback from the beta so far; I’ve been able to see some of the genuine impact it’s had on gameplay improvements over the past number of months. How integral do you feel player feedback is moving forward after launch?

Bill Roper: Easily as much as it was in beta, and once you go live it becomes even more important. There was a time basically during the beta where we decided that we needed to start treating everything like it’s live, and we’re actually servicing the game as though we’d launched. I think what you’ve seen through the beta – for us – it was also kind of a beta for how we’re treating our players moving forward.

With
less than a month to go before the September 1st launch of Champions
Online and the open beta just
around the corner, interest in the latest MMOG from Cryptic Studios is
at an all time high. We’ve learned many interesting details
on everything from power sets to PvP in Ten Ton Hammer’s
series of exclusive interviews
with Bill Roper, but we were also curious to learn more about grouping
opportunities in the game which is exactly what we set out to discover
in our most recent discussion.

Ten
Ton Hammer: You’ve also mentioned previously that certain
content will dynamically scale depending on a team’s size.
Could you give us a brief overview of how that system works?



Bill
Roper: The Reinforcements
system triggers at having 3 and 5 heroes going through an area. What it
does is sets how aggressively NPCs go to other similar groups in the
area for backup. So say you find some VIPER agents and you come at them
with 3 heroes
in your team, one of their members will run and get help.

Ever
since our Champions Online
community site went live, the superhumans otherwise known as the Ten
Ton Hammer staff have been diligently putting together an excellent
collection of new
player guides, but we also
understand that many potential players are interested in hearing more
about what type of high end content the game will feature. With that in
mind, we recently sat down with Bill Roper to discuss what types of
challenges await players with the Nemesis and Omega systems.

Ten
Ton Hammer: You’ve mentioned that players can only have one
‘active’ nemesis at a time, but once
they’ve been defeated will you be able to revisit them later
on?



Bill
Roper: We’ll
definitely have ways you can reactivate nemeses where they break out of
Stronghold and you’ve got to go stop them again. We know that
players will want to be able to go back and revisit some of their old
enemies which is the reason we wanted to have these galleries so that
you won’t be making these villains that are just gone;
they’re there to be used again and again as players want or
as we come up with clever and evil ways to do so.

So you've read all about what makes PvP in Champions Online different than in any other MMO you've played. Now for the fun stuff: tips to help players get a leg up on the competition! We asked Champions Online PvP Designer James Laird and Producer Rob Overmeyer for some hints and strategies to help us get started on player vs. player pwnage, and they delivered in a big way... er, make that 10 big ways!

How do you duel other players in a game with flight and other travel powers? Why is player vs. player combat (PvP) relevant in an MMO where every player is, to some degree, a good guy? Champions Online Producer Rob Overmeyer and PvP Designer James Laird tell us explore these questions and tell us all about what makes player vs. player combat unique in Champions Online, before getting to the heart of the matter: how best to kick other players in the tights in Champions Online PvP!

You asked your Champions Online questions, and we got you your Champions Online answers straight from the mouth of Bill Roper! It’s been awhile since we ran our last VIP interview, so we thought it’d be good to start back up with some question on the upcoming super hero MMO. You definitely had some tough questions, but Bill was game enough to answer them all. We cover everything from new player experiences to player housing to PvP content, and our Premium Members get the first crack at the answers. Everyone else can either sign up to be a Premium Member or wait until Monday, July 13th, when the content becomes available for the general public.

Ten Ton Hammer: Can you change your alignment? (cause sometimes heroes have midlife crisis too) At launch can we expect more than just Good/Bad/Neutral alignments? (ZeroMerc)

Roper: There isn’t really such a thing as “alignment” in Champions Online. There isn’t that sort of component in the game, so players can really be anything that they want to be. That said players are creating heroes and heroic characters, and that was one of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve been receiving from beta testers, that players wanted to feel more heroic. Like they were doing something that was important. And that’s what we’re striving to give them.

• You can read the whole Champions Online VIP interview by clicking here!

Continuing Ten Ton Hammer's weekly review of the Champions Online power sets, we sat down with Bill Roper to discuss the more mental power sets, specifically focusing on telekinesis, force, and telepathy. On top of that, we also took a moment with Bill to see where the team is at in the development of the game. It's all in our latest Champions Online power set interview, so check it out!

The standard four-color comic book has its essential powers. You need your super-strong individual, a toon that can be acrobatic in some way, a foxy super heroine, and the brash individiaul that wields the book's elemental forces. In our continuing series of power-focused interviews with Cryptic Studio's Bill Roper, the Ten Ton Hammer staff grilled the Champions Online developer on the Ice, Fire, and Electricity power sets. Keep reading to see his answers, including whether or not "Earth" is ever going to be in the elemental set!

Ten Ton Hammer: What gameplay archetypes do the elemental powers fall into. Are they all ranged DPS oriented? Or are there some powers within Fire, Ice, and Electricity that are more melee-focused, maybe in the DPS or Tank areas?

Roper: There's definitely a broad range of powers. There's offensive powers, defensive powers, ranged powers, point-blank AOE powers, and we even do things where you can take certain elemental powers and apply them to weapons. For example, you could have claws that are electrically charged. In this way, you can build a lightning martial artist that has a lightning shield and uses hand-to-hand attacks but has that with lightning powers tied in.

• To read the rest of this Champions Online interview, click here!

Character creation is a vital portion of any MMO. Whether you’re just naming your character or – if you’re like Champions Online – specifically customizing every piece of equipment down to the codpiece, it’s incredibly important to nail the player’s sweet spot. One of the most critical elements of the Champions Online creation scenario is the selection of the super hero’s powers and deciding whether they’re dishing out fiery blasts or sucking the life out of their enemies.

To help the player’s decide, Ten Ton Hammer has scheduled a number of exclusive interviews with Cryptic Studios’ Bill Roper focusing specifically on the various powers that players can choose from. We started with three “implement-wielding” power sets – Gadgeteering, Munitions, and Archery – and we’ll continue to expand this list as the weeks go on. For now, settle in and enjoy a look at these upcoming powers in Champions Online.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will players focusing on Munitions powers be able to get bigger guns through power replacements or something like that?

Roper: There are power replacers that fall in the Munitions set, there’s actually a large number of them. What happens is that you keep the same power that you have, but you’re augmenting that power based on the item that you’ve found or crafted. And sometimes this means that you’re actually replacing a particular item with the geometry of another item.

• To read the rest of our Champions Online interview with Bill Roper, click here!